My name is Carlo DeVito, and I am the author of East Coast Wineries: A Complete Guide from Maine to Virginia published by Rutgers University Press. This blog is dedicated to primarily east coast wines and wineries including Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. It will also feature products and information from other regions.

Friday, April 18, 2014

ANNOUNCING A CHALLENGE TO THE BREWERS OF NEW YORK - A BLONDE IMPERIAL STOUT

ANNOUNCING A CHALLENGE TO THE BEWERS OF NEW YORK

THE COLUMBIA BREWER'S CUP WINNER'S TROPHY AND A GRAND PRIZE OF $300!

FOR THE FIRST COMMERCIALLY BOTTLED BLONDE IMPERIAL STOUT

FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK

We meet at a website noted for knowledge, in a Valley noted for progress, in a State noted for strength, and we stand in need of all three, for we meet in an hour of change and challenge, in a decade of hope and fear, in an age of both knowledge and ignorance. The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds.

The vast stretches of the unknown and the unanswered and the unfinished still far outstrip our collective comprehension. No man can fully grasp how far and how fast we have come. Brewing has grown at a breathtaking pace. So it is not surprising that some would have us stay where we are a little longer to rest, to wait. But this city of Hudson, this State of New York, this country of the United States was not built by those who waited and rested and wished to look behind them. This country was conquered by those who moved forward--and so will this challenge be. Those who came before us made certain that this country rode the first waves of the industrial revolutions, the first waves of modern invention, and the first wave of nuclear power, and this generation does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of brewing. We mean to be a part of it--we mean to lead it. We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people. We choose to brew a Blonde Imperial Stout. We choose to brew a Blonde Imperial Stout in this year and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too. To be sure, we are behind, (BrewDog Abstrakt already stands tall in Europe) and we will be behind for some time in the brewing of a Blonde Imperial Stout. But we do not intend to stay behind, and in this year, New York brewers shall make up and move ahead. Many years ago the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he wanted to climb it. He said, "Because it is there." When President John F. Kennedy was asked why we were going to the moon, he said, "Because it is there, and we're going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked." I put it this way - a Blonde Imperial Stout is there, and we are going to brew it! Because there is hope and honor and knowledge to be gained and new discoveries to be unfolded.

EAST COAST WINERIES OFFERS THE FOLLOWING:

THE COLUMBIA BREWER'S CUP TROPHY AND A GRAND PRIZE OF $300 TO THE FIRST COMMERCIALLY BOTTLED BLONDE IMPERIAL STOUT MADE IN NEW YORK STATE.

Qualifications and Rules
1. A minimum of one barrel must be brewed, bottled, and labeled for sale. Growlers of any size do not count. It must be available for sale at retail brewed, bottled, and labeled.
2. Must generate a sufficient sudsy head as a traditional Imperial Stout
3. Must exhibit on the nose the roasty, chocolate, and malty aromas of a traditional Imperial Stout
4. Must exhibit the flavors consistent with those mentioned above.
5. Must ensure at least a 9% ABV
6. Must exhibit the mouthfeel of an Imperial Stout
7. It must have a state approved label
8. It must be yellow to gold in color.
9. The brewer must be licensed in the state of New York.
10. This offer ends at 11:59PM, December 31, 2014

A bottle must be shipped to me. First one to serve their beer to me that matches the conditions above wins. I must taste it for the winner to take the prize. No exceptions. I may be contacted through the Hudson-Chatham Winery.

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About Me

Carlo DeVito is a long time wine lover, and author of books and magazine articles. He is the author of Wineries of the East Coast. He has traveled to wine regions in California, Canada, up and down the east coast, France, Spain and Chile. He has been a published executive for more than 20 years. He shepherded the wine book program of Wine Spectator as well as worked with Kevin Zraly, Oz Clarke, Matt Kramer, Tom Stevenson, Evan Dawson, Greg Moore, Howard Goldberg, and many other wine writers. He has also published Salvatore Calabrese, Jim Meehan, Clay Risen, and Paul Knorr.
Mr. DeVito is the inventor of the mini-kit which has sold more than 100,000,000 copies world wide. He has also publisher such writers as Stephen Hawking, E. O Wilson, Philip Caputo, Gilbert King, James McPherson, John and Mary Gribbin, Thomas Hoving, David Margolick, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., John Edgar Wideman, Stanley Crouch, Dan Rather, Dee Brown, Susie Bright, and Eleanor Clift.
He is also the owner of Hudson-Chatham Winery, co-founder of the Hudson Berkshire Beverage Trail, and president of the Hudson Valley Wine Country.
https://carlodevito.wordpress.com/